Only a good win will do
COACH DU PREEZ: WE CANNOT TOLERATE SUB-STANDARD PERFORMANCES
Sunwolves have an excellent record in turnovers.
The sweet talk from Robert du Preez is over after the loss to the Southern Kings and the Sharks coach is demanding the best from his team ahead of today’s Super Rugby match against the Sunwolves in Singapore.
“This match is hugely important and it’s not about maintaining a hold on our position, but also about building momentum and confidence,” Du Preez said.
“This was supposed to be our momentum phase, but we’re back to square one again so we need a win to get us back on track. And we need a proper win, it needs to be an all-out great performance, and that will set us up nicely for the three derbies we have at home,
“If you play for the Sharks, we can’t tolerate sub-standard performances. We’ve spoken a lot about what it means to play for the Sharks, about pride in the jersey and the team as a whole didn’t perform well.”
The Sharks beat the Sunwolves 40-29 in their only previous meeting, in Durban last year, but after their impressive win over the Jaguares in Buenos Aires three weeks ago, they are looking to win three successive overseas games for the first time in their history.
They will need to start well in Singapore, but for a side that is languishing in the lower reaches of most of the attacking statistics, that will probably mean defending well, which they have done this season, missing the second-least number of tackles.
The Sunwolves are very adept, though, at hanging on to the ball, having conceded the second-least number of turnovers in the competition, and they have also become better at playing in the opposition’s territory.
While the Sharks have had mixed results against the teams from Australia, the Sunwolves have been learning about high-tempo rugby by playing against the New Zealand teams and the improvement they showed in away games against the Highlanders and Chiefs suggests they should not be underestimated by the KwaZulu-Natalians.
Most importantly, the Sharks can’t stop playing, as they are wont to do, as they desperately try to build some consistency and momentum ahead of the play-offs.